After the Chains Are Gone

My chains are goneI've been set freeMy God, my Savior has ransomed me- Chris Tomlin’s “Amazing Grace”

I have been feeling led to write this blog post since summer, but I have not gotten around to it because I am still growing in my understanding of freedom. There are some days that I question if God has truly set me free. For years, spiritual chains and shackles consumed my life. 

There’s this lyric from Christian rapper KB’s song “Doubts”: 
I'm a grown man but I feel like I have the same struggles I dealt with since I was a teen
Sometimes I feel like I'm one sin from you saying that you are done with me
Am I deceived, Am I deceived? 

It makes me realize that we serve a God who takes our struggles, shortcomings, failings, issues, and chains. Everything that we may struggle with, we have to know that Christ already died and rose again for them. It’s not something we have to question or wonder why, it’s something he just does for us because we are his children. 

The thing is that we doubt. We doubt God’s power, we doubt ourselves, we doubt our situations. 

You see that the word explicitly says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” John 8:36.  “And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8:32.  John 14:6. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to…set the oppressed free” Luke 4:18.

Jesus came to save the world (John 3:16-17). He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). He has already given us our freedom. 

I remember crying at the altar one Sunday at church for God to free me and forgive me. And He said something so simple like, “I already have.” GOD ALREADY HAS FREED US! It’s our doubts that make us question his power and his power that he has given us. 

Jesus didn’t pray for healing of our diseases, minds, and spirits because he has already done it. He prayed for our faith! (Luke 22:32). 

And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” Matthew 17:20. (Mark 16:18) This is for our spiritual mountains too!  

God wants us to believe in his power and the power that he has given us. If demons flee at the sound of God’s voice, then they should at yours too. That same Spirit that rose Christ from the grave is in you! (Romans 8:11). 

Honestly, if we believe and activate our faith in Christ, those chains that presumably have us locked away should melt away like wax. It is also important to remember that this battle is spiritual. Know your weapons (Ephesians 6:10-18) and use them daily. Christians don’t get a break, we are in a fight for our souls everyday.  Jesus commands us to pick up our crosses daily, (Matthew 16:24) but the awesome thing is that we serve a God who will help us carry them too. 

Too often our chains are already broken, but we stay there because we don’t know we can get up. If you are still locked up, do what Paul and Silias did. They prayed and praised God until they were free (Acts 16:16-40). 

And if you struggle with your faith, ask God to help your unbelief. (Mark 9:24). He is a God who understands. 

 http://youtu.be/V7eZD3TKn_M ~Mary Mary's Shackles :)

Love, 

Courtney 

East to West

Today I cried my eyes out. Today I surrender all. 

I am writing this with an extreme revelation from God. I have struggled with forgiving myself. Forgetting my past. Letting go of my sins and letting God wash me white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18) 

Basically, my guilt  meant that I believed that the blood of Jesus is not strong enough to cover my sins. But what does the blood of Jesus do? It remits sin, gives life, justifies, saves us from wrath, it redeems.  (Matt. 26:28, John 6:53, Romans 5:9) I have been walking around with this belief that God can do everything for anybody but me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that God is all powerful. But somewhere deep down, I guess I’ve always figured that I wasn’t good enough. 

There’s this new word to me: grace. Well, maybe it’s not really new, but it’s meaning is becoming extraordinarily new to me. It can’t be measured, it can’t be earned, it will never stop for those whom love God. Grace is Free and unmerited favor of God. 

 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

God is grace, he is mercy, he is love. Guess what? He loves you with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3). 

All of this is sort of a hard concept to grasp. Like, I am so unworthy, but I hear God saying “You are worth my love.” You see, even if everyone on earth was righteous and it was only you who were not, God still would have come down and died on the cross for you. He loves you that much. 

I know my natural mind will never fully be able to rationalize this concept, but I know with spiritual eyes I can begin to see this kind of forgiveness rationally. 

So as I was talking to my sister today, my inadequacy of believing I am unworthy of forgiveness came up. It was like the Holy Spirit spoke through  my sister.

"There is no sin too great that the blood of Jesus can’t cover. When Jesus died on the cross he took the weight of every sin upon himself. It was during that time that darkness fell, and God turned his face from him (Matthew 27:45-46). He took murder, fornication, homosexuality, suicidal thoughts, greed, pride, or whatever. HE TOOK EVERYTHING. Period. He has taken our sins and thrown it into the sea of forgetfulness! (Micah 7:19) It is not our call to go pick that weight back up. If God has forgotten, then you should too. "

P.S.- I wrote on sticky notes some promises of God to help me remember all that he has done and all that he has promised to do. I have placed these on the wall beside my bed, and I plan to read them everyday if needed. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17. So I will speak it until I see and believe it. I think it’s a great idea, so feel free to do the same!



P.P.S- Watch this video. It is so beautiful and expreses God’s loving forgiveness towards us awesomely. http://youtu.be/RwX_EpNR4CA  

God took your place on the cross. Let him have your guilt, your shame, and your sins. He is not a God of condemnation. 

Repent and keep moving forward. 

Love, 
Courtney 

Disobedience

Recently, I read over 1 Samuel 15, and I could not help but to see Saul’s disobedience relate to mines. Saul is one of the most interesting men in the Bible to me. He was a guy who had it all: the crown, money, fame, and God, but he lost it all because he put his material possessions and himself above the true and mighty (Mark 8:36). When we are disobedient, we are doing the same thing as Saul. We’re putting ourselves, our fears, or other people above God.

Just last week, me and about ten other girls had a marriage ceremony to Christ. In this ceremony we spoke our vows, put on our purity rings,  and dedicated our entire lives (mind, soul, body, spirit) to Jesus. Through this whole experience, a sisterhood was built. Together we work to encourage each other to live pure lives. About two years ago, God called me to start this ministry. So, summer 2013 I worked with God to write a six week series entitled “What Makes Us Fall into the Pattern of Fornication So Easily?” It explored the absence of God in our spiritual walks, things that happened to us in our past, dating the wrong men, and different things that lead us to go astray. God had prepared me to do his work, but I stayed stuck and didn’t move on his task. Why? Because I was afraid. My past disqualifies me from being a person to even speak about purity, but God qualified me. It wasn’t until February 2014 that I actually began the series. And I thought that after I had done my six weeks, I was done. But the work for the Lord is never done. So this past semester, God helped me write a series entitled “Married with Christ.” The truth is that I, like Saul, put my own ideology before God's. I was disobedient with the task he asked me to do. 

These are some of the amazing pictures from our marriage ceremony

We are called to do God’s will. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21. Even when it is hard, or difficult we are called to do God’s will. Trust me, it was hard for me to step out of my comfort zone to start this ministry, but it was possible (Philippians 4:13).

 I want to be like Jesus. Who in the garden of Gethsemane was distressed and grieved, yet he  still asked for the Father’s will to be done. Matthew 26:39. You see, when we do God’s will, it is not for us, but for his glory. Doing his will may not only just help us but others as well. So it’s crucial that we don’t allow disobedience to take a hold of us.
 
 (So, as I was reading 1 Samuel 15, I saw disobedience throughout. And, I saw myself. I suggest you flip open your Bible so that it may be easier to understand and follow along. To sum it up, God gave Saul a task: destroy the Amaleks. But Saul kept the king and all of the good animals).Here are my notes:

God’s ways are always just even when we don’t understand (1 Samuel 15:2-3). We like to think we have it all figured out and that we’re smarter than God, but we’re not. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

When we blatantly disobey God‘s instructions, it shows a lack of reverence for God. (1 Samuel 15:8-9)

We think we’re right in our own eyes, so we justify our sins. (1 Samuel 15:15). 

•  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God   is stronger than human strength 1 Corinthians 1:25.

• For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight 1 Corinthians 3:19.

We cannot add or take away from God’s instructions (1 Samuel 15:20-21).
    Satan led Eve astray in the garden of Eden because he added one word to God’s.     (Genesis 2:17 & Genesis 3:4)

“Obedience is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). If you obey first, you don’t have to worry about making up your own sacrifice. In your obedience, you  do the sacrifice God has already called you to do.

Verse 23: For rebellion is like the sin of divination and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.

  Rebellion is compared to the sin of divination (horoscopes, fortune tellers). Why? Because when we rebel we are seeking out our own future/ways without looking for God. Arrogance = to the evil of idolatry. You are your own god. You put yourself above God’s word.
This verse also reminds me of grace. How many times have I rejected the word of God, but he didn’t reject me? He knows our hearts. Saul’s heart was hardened against God because it was so puffed up for himself. Even though my heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), God understands it. He knew I wanted to do his will, in starting his ministry, even though I operated in fear. Yet, he showed me patience.

Verse 24: Saul states why he was disobedient, “I was afraid of the men and so I gave into them.” I want to remind you of Galatians 1:10-  “Am I trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Verse 33: So,  Samuel carried out God’s instructions that He had given to Saul. But no one can be obedient for you, it’s your choice. Even if Saul had decide to kill King Agag  after Samuel’s visit, it would have been delayed obedience which is still disobedience.

So when God gives you a task to do, you do it immediately. Don’t try to put your human intellect and understanding into it. Let your obedience operate over your intelligence. 

Peace & Love

Rest.

This season in my life has been wonderfully full. I have been busy working for the Lord, working on my school work, and working at my two jobs. I recently came to the realization that I barely make time for myself to just rest. So, today, I determined to spend my Saturday hanging out with myself, my cat, and most importantly, Jesus. 

Me and the beautiful Jesus

“So on the seventh day he rested from all his work” Genesis 2:2

Rest is particularly important, if it wasn’t then God wouldn’t have done it. 

I can become so busy that I don’t take the time to focus on myself. Even though today I was determined to spend the day with just myself today, I had to still serve. Jesus has blessed me so much during this time in my life that I realize that I find myself by being around others and serving. 

I am a people person simply put. I know it is easy for me to complain that I am so busy all of the time, but I realize that years ago I had nothing to do. I prayed for God to use me and that is exactly what he has been doing. Even on my days of rest, I still have to work for the Lord. 

Minus the few hours it took to support and help out some people, the day was spent with  four of the most important men in my life (God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit,  and my cat haha). I realize that we can become so busy working for the Lord that we forget the Lord. Spending time with Christ is essential to our Christian walk. 

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:12-14. 

Quiet time with Christ should be apart of all of our daily lives. I know that when I am not spending enough time with Christ the works of my flesh start to arise. Last night and earlier today I felt the spirit of depression trying to get to me. I thank God that He lets me know when the enemy is trying to attack. The devil’s schemes are nothing new, he tries the same old things. I knew I had two options: lie in bed and let sorrow sweep over me or go to God and give him my burdens (Matthew 11:28-30). 

God wants you to come to him so that he can give you rest. Come to him by spending to with him. Set aside time in your life to just rest in his presence. 

Get thirsty for Jesus  so that you can get your well needed rest.

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35

Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel. Everyone's favorite brothers. Totally kidding here. This story really struck me a few weeks ago, for I was being like Cain. Now, I wasn't planning to kill anyone or something, but hey, sin is always crouching at our doors and it desires to have us, but we must rule over it (Genesis 4:7). 

Cain worked the soil and Abel kept the flocks. When their burnt offering times came, I picture Abel picking out his best animal to sacrifice to God and then I see Cain pulling up with some bruised, dusty fruit. I shouldn't be laughing at this, but think about how God might have turned up his nose at Cain. I imagine God saying something similar to this, "Like for real?  You know, I don't  want  left-over fruit, give me some meat! Some veal or something." Smh. But of course he  said  it in a better way, just modernizing it here.

Add caption

Umm...I'll take the steak. Please and thank you.



Cain needed to give what was pleasing to the Lord. His fruit offering was not enough because it did not require him to get out of his comfort zone. He gave the Lord what he knew. God requires us to give 100%. Often times this means giving him what we thought we didn't have in us. He aims for us to rely on him so that we can give him beyond our limits. Give it all to him or nothing. Sounds ouch, but...I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Revelation 3:15-16. 

We can lift our hands during service and sing and just go through the motions. (Just using an example here).  But what if God is calling us to do is to get out of our comfort zones? What if he told you to do more than lifting your hands? What if he wanted your worship to your lifestyle and not just something you do on Sundays? What if he wanted you to do something out of the norm? But that's not comfortable. Neither was Jesus dying on the cross. We have to do things beyond our limits. 

When Cain knew he wasn't doing enough, he got angry. (Genesis 4:5). He got mad at Abel's anointing that he did not work for. He didn't die to his flesh. That little seed of anger grew until he killed his brother. 

Genesis 4:8

Now, my own story in how I was being like Cain. It happened in church. Someone told me watch someone so that I could learn from them. Honestly, I got angry, similar to Cain, and I could feel my jealously brewing. Now, that person I was mad at had done me no wrong, yet I got angry at them and even God. What I needed to do was get mad enough at myself to push forth a change. 

I had to ask God to take those wrong feelings of pride, jealousy, and bitterness. I asked God to show me how to please him more. Yeah, this was uncomfortable for me, but I had to make sure I was right with God. When someone gives you a model of a correct behavior, such as Cain could have used Abel, do not be mad at that person or God. Instead ask God what do they do for their anointing, and what you should do so that you can grow. Be humble and real before God. Remember this Christian walk is not meant to be comfortable.  

Chin hugs!

Courtney
 

Wordly wisdom vs. Worldy Wisdom

There are two types of wisdom. One from above and one from below. What type of wisdom are you being led by?

Firstly, I thought about the words "wordly" and "worldly" (I'll admit that I might have made up  the word "wordly" lol), and  they looked so similar at the first glance to an untrained eye. "Wordly" is derived from the Word (a.k.a. Jesus- John 1:1). Worldly is derived from the word, "world." Okay, so I hope I didn't confuse everyone here. 

Anyways, I wanted to challenge everyone to think about the wisdom they are applying to their lives. Is it sound doctorine from the word or from the world? To share a brief story that happened to me a few weeks ago, got me thinking about the types of wisdom and James 3 nailed it down for me. 

So, I was hanging out with a couple of my friends, and we were discussing relationships. My friend, knowing that I am single suggested that I try internet dating to find a guy. Now, I don't believe in internet dating because of  Proverbs 18:22 " He who finds a wife finds a good thing..." But internet dating and all of that is another blog post. What God prophised to me a few months ago was that I am not supposed to look for my man and that he would look for me. Through our hang out session with my Christian friends, I was told to essential get out of order of what God had spoken to me through his word (the Bible) and through a rhema word. 

Seriously, though, what they were saying seemed to make sense and sounded really good. Now, I am not here to try to through shade on them or anything, I am just using this story as an example. No names used here. Like I mentioned earlier, "earthly wisdom" may appear to be similar to "godly wisdom" to the untrained eye. In order for you to understand the difference between these two types of wisdom, you can check it up by the word. 

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.  But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18.

One could look at the story of Sarai and Abram. She used her own "wisdom" and tried to take God's word into her own hands. I mean it made sense in the natural. "Why not get my fresh, young slave to birth a kid for my husband when I'm all old?" Yet, it ended up as a big mess because she tried to allow Hagar to try to fulfill the promise God had given only to Sarai and Abram. (Genesis 16). 

So is your wisdom based from envy or self ambition? Or are you using wisdom coming from heaven that is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere?

How can you know the difference between worldly and wordly wisdom?

The more you grow in Christ, the more you will get to know him and understand his perfect will for your life. Rely on the Holy Spirit; ask him for help. Ask God to give you that godly wisdom and not the wisdom of this world. 
 http://theresurgence.com/2013/06/25/the-work-of-the-holy-spirit-in-the-life-of-a-believer 

Peace & Love.

Let Go.

 So, lately, God has been leading me to let it all go and give all my burdens to him. (1 Peter 5:7). Part of me is like "let's do this!" And then there's this other part of me that's like, "uhhh...wait. Can't I figure out another way." 

Basically the verse that keeps me.

God has been revealing a lot to me during this season in my life. What's been standing out to me is the importance of trusting him with my future. In order to student teach in the spring I had to pass my English content test. This freaked me out because I had so many negative voices in my ear telling me that I should switch my major, or that I was not good enough to even major in English let alone teach it. Firstly, the devil will use some people to plant seeds of death and doubt. Secondly, while my GPA states otherwise, I know that it is no one but God who qualifies me.

 

 I was  freaking out about this test because I was failing the practice tests. I literally, got upset because I thought I wasted four years of my life on this major. I started to plan out taking a semester off from school, switching states, or skipping teaching altogether and just go to grad school.

What I needed to concentrate on was God's word. I have already been prophesied about teaching in my future, and I was told by God to major in English secondary education. On one of my tripping sessions, I was complaining to God about how I feared my future. He told me, "Don't you trust me? Let go." I was like "yeah," and I still continued to trip and lose sleep. It wasn't until the day before my test that I decided to read God's love letter to me (the Bible) that I actually let myself trust God.I realize now that he allowed me to fail these practice tests so that I had to look at no one but Him. I can't put faith in myself or my works, but only in Jesus who is able to save and provide.

While this is just my story about trusting God in regards to my test, I know this can be appicable to other areas in my life as well as yours :). 

Remember!

1.  Psalm 18:29. Phillipians 4:13.
2. Stop the negative thoughts. When someone has death to speak over you, cast that trash down. 2 Corinthians 10:5. Don't look at negative people's comments, but look at God.
3. Know that you are a conquer. 1 Corinthians 15:57
4. Remind yourself of his promises. (Verses that helped me in my situation: Matthew 6:27, 33-34, Philippians 4:6-7, Romans 8:28)
5. What God has for you is for you. (whether it may be your career, a husband, or a particular blessing)
6. Know that Jesus will never fail you. 
7. Even if you don't get what you want, still praise Him. Have an attitude of graditude. 

P.S.- I did pass my test. All thanks and credit to Jesus! 

Until next time.
Peace.

The Spirit of Compromise

Lately, I have been thinking over my life and the lives of others and how there appears to be this compromising mindset. We may settle for a certain grade, in a friendship, or in our relationship with God. The type of compromising attitude I'm speaking about is when we don't give our all. 

We can learn a lot from the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In particular, the Laodicea and Ephesus churches stand out to me. This is probably because I have fallen victim to the charges that stood against these churches. They lost their first love and they were neither hot nor cold. We can't give our all to God when we are stuck in a lukewarm mindset or if we have lost our focus from serving him completly. 

Listen, compromising is hardly a good thing because you're pretty much stuck lowering your standards while the other person gets more than they bargained for. With most compromising situations someone wins and someone loses. When you don't give your all in your relationship with God, it may appear that you're "winning" if you're living it up and having the time of your life. But, get that, it's not really you who is winning, it's the devil. If you keep up that lifestyle of compromising and not giving your all with Jesus, you will lose when he spews you out of his mouth. It just doesn't measure up because you're not only hurting yourself but also God. You're his beloved child, and it hurts him when you're not walking with him.

So, I was listening to this awesome song by the Newsboys. ( http://youtu.be/WjZ01FcK0yk) Me and my friend Tania were jamming and singing along to this song while we waited for my friend Camielle in Walmart's parking lot, when this guy parks next to us blaring his music. It was some nonsense music about bottles popping or something. However, his music started to get louder than my radio. All of a sudden my radio started to get static so I couldn't hear my music anymore. It then picked up his music and began to play his song. Once I realized this, I shut off the radio and turned on my Christian cd. 

Meaning: We can be doing what we need to do and be on the right track then a trick of the enemy comes up, and it's like we can't hear or feel God near. We can become complacent and accept our issues or we can fight back. If you are compromising your spiritual walk so that you can live in the flesh or you're not giving your all, get up and press in his presence to ensure that you get what you need from Him. Don't just sit back and let things happen. Do all it takes to give your all to God. If one way isn't working, try another. 

http://youtu.be/WjZ01FcK0yk

Listen to "Give My All" by KB. 

I provided the link above :)